Providing readers with the latest crime and justice news from around Canada but with particular interest to Winnipeg, and my Liberal minded opinions about decisions and issues pertaining to crime, justice, and sentencing. I advocate for prison and criminal justice reform, more prisoners' rights, rehabilitation and community based corrections. I believe society needs to address the root causes of crime and underlying factors as opposed to simply "getting tough" and over-relying on imprisonment.

Pages

Welcome to my Crime and Justice blog! I am a 19 year old criminal justice student at the University of Winnipeg. I advocate for prisoners' rights, human rights, equality and criminal justice/prison system reforms.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Serial robber has sentenced reduced

Manitoba's highest court has slashed the sentence of a man convicted of a string of threatening gas bar robberies in half.

In a decision released on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal said the six-year sentence given to Troy Gordon Draper last year was harsh and unfit because the judge overseeing his case didn't take into account the degree to which he suffers from mental-health issues.

Draper, now in his mid-20s, pleaded guilty to robbing the same Domo gas bar clerk three times at closing time between Mar. 24 and May 7, 2008.

'He is often used by other inmates to do chores for them.'—Justice Freda Steel

He also admitted to robbing a branch of the Royal Canadian Legion on May. 9 that same year.

In all four robberies, Draper wore a disguise and "postured as if armed." On one occasion, a knife was brandished at his victim. On three occasions, he was with a co-accused, who was not identified on the court's decision.

After his arrest, Draper gave a statement to police admitting to the robberies, saying he committed them because of a crack cocaine addiction.

The sentencing judge handed Draper a six-year prison sentence for the crimes.

However, Justice Freda Steel ruled in a 15-page decision that the "unique constellation" of circumstances surrounding Draper's case wasn't properly accounted for and substituted a three-year and one month long sentence instead.

Draper was given credit for eight months of time served pending a decision in his case, reducing the time he'll have to serve to just over two years.

Steel said the sentencing judge — who was not identified in her decision — overemphasized punishing Draper for the robberies, and failed to adequately address the fact he was a first-time offender suffering from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and addiction-related issues.

FASD refers to a range of disabilities that are seen in people whose mothers drank alcohol while they were pregnant. Problems children face can include learning disabilities, memory loss, short attention spans and difficulty understanding the consequences of actions.

"Only a general reference was made to the mitigating circumstances," Steel wrote. "The sentence is simply unfit for this offender and these offences."

Steel ruled that while Draper's conduct couldn't be excused, the fact he was thieving to feed an addiction means he shouldn't be treated the same as "an offender whose robberies are driven solely by greed."

Restraint urged

Steel also cited as positive Draper's ability to remain out of custody on house arrest in an adult foster-placement program and take programming pending trial without breaching his bail conditions.

The brief time Draper spent behind bars after being arrested was "very difficult since he is often used by other inmates to do chores for them," Steel stated. "He experiences high anxiety in his dealings with other inmates and has been transferred repeatedly as a result."

"With offenders such as [Draper], the court should follow the principle of restraint as much as possible," Steel wrote. "When incarceration is required, the term should be as short as possible and tailored to the individual circumstances of the accused."

I completely agree with the Court of Appeal's decision to reduce his sentence. This is a move in the right direction. This man is a first time offender and suffers from cocaine addiction issues and fetal alcohol syndrome. His sentence should therefore, be as little as possible, so that his issues and underlying factors contributing to crime can be dealt with effectively, in the community.

After release, this man should attend substance abuse treatment and treatment/counseling for his mental health issues. He should also be assisted in securing employment and job training, and further education, as this reduces the risk of re-offending.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Brittany Thiessen

I'm 19 and studying Criminal Justice, Sociology and Psychology at the University of Winnipeg. Criminal Justice is my passion and I am especially interested in gang violence and prevention, wrongful convictions, the impact and effects of imprisonment, rehabilitative and restorative justice, and the ineffectiveness of prisons. I advocate for prison reform where only the most dangerous would be incarcerated, with more prisoners' rights and more emphasis placed on rehabilitation, reform and successful reintegration.
I support rehabilitative and restorative justice, community sanctions and crime prevention initiatives as a response to criminal behaviour as opposed to imprisonment. I believe that in order to reduce and prevent crime, we need to address the root causes of crime and the underlying social and economic factors contributing. I also advocate for the abolition of mandatory minimum sentences.
I believe that getting "tough" on crime is only a quick solution and is not effective in the long term. I believe that we need to get "smart on crime" by responding to crime with what has been proven to work.
I'm Liberal and Feminist who has compassion for all. I value equality.

Facebook Fan Page

My Facebook Page

Quotes

- "Treat others as you would want to be treated."- "Two wrong don't make a right."- "An eye for an eye... makes the world go blind."- "People who support the government's tough on crime policies and who say 'lock them up and throw the key away' are narrow-minded idiots."- "Do to others as you would like to be done to you."- "Do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you."- "We are each burdened with prejudice; against the poor or the rich, the smart or the slow, the gaunt or the obese. It is natural to develop prejudices. It is noble to rise above them."- "Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances."- "Is this in the best interests of society?"- "Racial superiority is a mere pigment of the imagination."- "In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. In order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently."- "Poverty is the mother of crime."- "Capital punishment is as fundamentally wrong as a cure for crime, as charity is wrong as a cure for poverty."- "Capital punishment turns the state into a murderer."- "Rather let the crime of the guilty go unpunished than condemn the innocent."- "Having your fate rest in the hands of a jury is the same as entrusting yourself to surgery with a mentally retarded doctor."- "Every crime is born of necessity. If you want less crime, you must change the conditions. Poverty makes crime. Want, rags, crusts, misfortune - all these awake the wild beast in man, and finally he takes, and takes contrary to law, and becomes a criminal. And what do you do with him? You punish him. Why not punish a man for having consumption? The time will come when you will see that that is just as logical. What do you do with the criminal? You send him to the penitentiary. Is he made better? Worse. The first thing you do is to try to trample out his manhood, by putting an indignity upon him. You mark him. You put him in stripes. At night you put him in darkness. His feeling for revenge grows. You make a wild beast of him, and he comes out of that place branded in body and soul, and then you won't let him reform if he wants to."- "It is better that ten guilty escape, than one innocent suffer."- "One wrong does not justify another."- "A jury consists of 12 persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer."- "When you go into court, you are putting your fate in the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty."- "Ending racial discrimination in jury selection can be accomplished only by eliminating peremptory challenges entirely."- The most glaring weakness is that no matter how efficient and fair the death penalty may seem in theory, in actual practice, it is primarily inflicted upon the weak, the poor, the ignorant and minorities.- Capital punishment is the most premeditated of all murders.- Society prepares the crime, the criminals commit it.- In some ways, I think of incarceration as a lazy response to poverty. It's a way of not dealing with poverty, it's a benign neglect.- If locking up those who violate the law contributed to safer societies, then the US should be the safest country in the world. In fact, the US affords a glaring example of the limited impact that criminal justice responses may have on crime.- Politicians are telling people that the way to prevent crime is put ppl in prisons for longer periods in more brutalized conditions. If that were true, America would be the safest place in the world.

- Criminal Justice and Sociology Student- Liberal Party of Canada- Advocate for prison and criminal justice reform- Against criminal justice system discrimination- Believe "tough on crime" policies are ineffective and are not based on research.- We need to get smart on the causes of crime and address underlying factors contributing to crime.- Society needs to shift from retributive justice and punishment to restorative and rehabilitative justice- Supporter of community based sanctions, treatment, counseling, prison alternatives, restorative justice, and crime prevention programs.- Justice does not mean punishment as punishment is unequal. Justice should be served with society's best interests in mind and victims and offenders should have their needs met and play a role in the process of healing and restoration.- We need to rely less on prison as a sentence and more on the alternative and least restrictive options to help reduce overcrowding and unnecessary incarceration.- We need to improve prison conditions and make less deprivations and only imprison the most dangerous offenders, not minor, first time, drug, property and non violent offenders or those with mental illnesses and substance abuse issues.- Our prison system needs to place greater emphasis on rehabilitation and reform.